Resident Evil: Escape from Raccoon
by McStardust
Summary: When things weren't working out for him in New York, Zachary Conners decides to return home in Raccoon City, hoping to reconnect with his friends and family. However, upon arrival, everything he once knew was about to change into a new, horrifying reality. Now he must fight for survival against the undead and mutants as he tries to escape the very place he wanted to return to.
1. Ch1: Home No More

_**DISCLAIMER: I do not legally own the rights to New York. All rights belong to CAPCOM, but I do own my OCs.**_

_**"Embrace reality even if it burns you."- Pierre Bergé**_

* * *

**Resident Evil: Escape from Raccoon**

**Chapter 1: Home No More**

* * *

**~Arklay County Road~**

Rain poured hard across Arklay County that night, but amidst the darkness of the country, a pair of headlights could be seen lighting up the way, along with a pair of wipers wiping off the rain that came down upon the windshield to a dark blue 1998 Toyota Corolla. Inside, the car was neat and clean, despite it appearing fairly used.

The driver appeared to be a young male in his mid-twenties wearing an unzipped black jacket with a white shirt underneath, dark blue jeans with a black belt with a silver buckle around the waist, and black casual shoes with white soles and laces over white socks. The driver himself had fairly pale skin and short black hair combed back and gelled, and dark blue eyes, which were fixed upon the road ahead as he spoke into an old model 1998 phone in his right ear while listening to 'Go All The Way' by Raspberries on low volume on his radio.

"Yeah... Things just didn't work out back in New York. Four years down the drain just like that." he sighed as he listened to person on the other side of the phone speak back to him before replying. "I know what you mean, Sam. Well, at least the eviction finally pushed me to come back home after all this time."

As he listened to other guy on the phone with him, Sam, talk back, he took a glance off the road and at the passenger seat next to him, seeing his black duffel back with white straps unzipped, revealing what appeared to be photos of himself in various costumes and poses for acting auditions. He shook his head and let out a slight chuckle before looking back at the road again, nodding his head. "Yeah. I should've listened to you, Sam. You were right. The acting business is much tougher than I thought, but if I've just gotten that role on Broadway, I probably wouldn't be hitting myself over the head right about now."

He shook his head as he listened to Sam babble more, then rolled his eyes, and finally nodded. "True. Raccoon's Theater would hire me, but you know they're all gonna laugh when they see me come back. I told them I was gonna make it big and not stick around that dump. That they'll be seeing me in the movies one of these days." he shook his head and sighed at that memory. "But at least they got me started, and they always said I could come back. I just know it's gonna be humiliating when I do."

But as he listened to Sam talk back, there was static coming out of the phone, surprising the driver as he looked to see the connection was low now. "Oh boy..." he put the phone back in his ear and spoke as Sam talked. "Hey, Sam, listen... I'm losing connection. I'll call you back when I'm in Raccoon, okay? Okay...?!" but he heard nothing in response, for the phone's connection was completely lost, making him sigh in disbelief as he hung up and threw the phone onto the passenger seat. "Great... Just great..."

He tried turning the volume up on the radio, but wasn't getting any service from any stations either, so he couldn't listen to any music anymore. Knowing he wasn't going to get anything, he turned it off and just eyed the road ahead some more. "Well, it's just you now, Zach. Just you and your thoughts." he said out loud to himself, revealing himself to be named Zach. "Let's go over everything, just because... You're on your way to see your parents back home, them being unaware that you're coming, and going to surprise them with the news that your acting career pretty much hit a dead zone, so you're moving back to start over and blah blah blah..."

He sighed again in disappointed at his own words and shook his head. "How did I let it come to this?"

Just then, he heard a beep coming from the car's fuel gauge, indicating that it was near empty. "Yikes... I better get some gas" he stated as he looked out his windows before spotting a sign that indicated a gas station a mile ahead, making him smile. "Heh... Well ain't that convenient."

With the gas station not too far ahead, Zach sped up his car a little to get their faster, but as he did so, he was unaware that the headlights of his car had attracting some attention out in the dark fields of Arklay County. From the looks of it, there were people out in the fields, slowly walking in the direction they saw the car going while making strange moaning sounds.

* * *

**~Arklay County Roads, Mizoil Gas Station~**

Before long, Zach pulled up to the gas station a mile later, putting his car in park near one of the gas pumps, while one was occupied by a dark green jeep. Upon parking, he stepped out and swiped his card to get the gas pumping before inserting the pump into the gas tank, then waited as it filled up, whistling an old cartoon tune he liked. However, he couldn't help but notice nobody was around but him, causing him to seize his fun whistling and grew a little concern.

"Well that's odd." he said as he looked back at the unmanned jeep. "Is there no one here?" he walked around the gas pump and looked around some more, but when he looked down, his eyes went wide in shock as he saw a trail of blood and footprints in said blood trail around the gas station and towards the small store building itself. "What the hell...?"

As he was in shock, suddenly, his shifted his attention towards the building nearby when he heard something drop and break inside. Unsure of what was going on, he ventured towards the building, but did it cautiously. It wasn't long until he got to the door and slowly opened it, getting a glimpse of the inside. "Whoa... What happened in here?" he asked as he noticed everything in the store was all wrecked, and blood almost everywhere he looked, but mostly on the floor, causing him to cover his mouth to prevent himself from hurling. "Oh god... What is all of this?"

Just then, he turned around when he heard a footstep, seeing an Arklay County police officer slowly making his way towards him. "Officer!" Zach exclaimed, slightly relieved as he smiled. "Thank goodness you're here. Something really bad must've happened in ther-."

But as Zach indicated what happened in the store, his eyes went wide as noticed something was wrong with the officer. His body, specifically his face, looked like it was rotting, and his eyes were white and barely showing the pupil and iris, but the most dominant part was the bite mark and exposed flesh on his neck. "Uh... Officer...?" Zach asked he heard moaning sounds coming from the officer, taking a step back as he saw him still coming at him. "Are you okay, sir...?"

But at that moment, the officer let out a horrible shriek as he threw himself and his arms forward at Zach, surprising him as he attempted to take a bite out of his neck, but Zach quickly fought back. "Agh! G-Get off of me!" he shouted as he did his best to fight back, but slipped under the weight of the officer and forced down to the ground on his back, still trying to keep the officer from biting his neck. He struggled as he was caught right in the doorway, not having much room to throw the officer off to the sides. "Dammit...! Get off!"

Using all his might, Zach pushed the officer up enough to sit up just enough to finally throw him off, then quickly stood back up and panted as his heart was racing. "What the fuck, man?!" he shouted as the officer got back up and continued to moan as he came at Zach again, but this time Zach had room to back up and get some distance. "Holy shit... Get away from me!"

But the officer didn't listen and kept coming, causing Zach's anxiety to spike as he breathed in and out like crazy before spotting a broke off iron pipe on the ground and quickly picked it up, threatening to swing it. "Stay back! Don't make me hurt you!" he warned, but the officer still kept coming as he threw his arms out at Zach, causing Zach to shake his head. "Don't make me do this..."

Then, just like before, the officer threw himself at Zach again with another horrible shriek, but this time Zach was ready as he swung the pipe hard right at the officer's face, causing him to stammer into the wall of the store and smash his head into it. Seeing this, Zach covered his mouth and tried not to hurl as the blood and the officer's body fell to the ground, not a sound to be heard from him anymore. "Oh my god..." he said as he dropped the pipe and slowly approached the officer's lifeless body. "I really hope I don't get arrested for this."

Upon nearing the officer's body, he got down on one knee and turned him over slightly to get a good look at the damage, seeing that his head was indeed smashed in on the upper half. "Jesus Christ... I tried to warn him. Why didn't he listen?" he asked before noticing the sheriff's badge on the officer's uniform, along with his name tag. "Daniel Cortini. This guy's the sheriff around here?"

He shook his head, baffled by everything that he has seen and witnessed from the sheriff's actions. "What the hell is going on around here?" he asked, but quickly changed focus as he stood up and looked over his shoulder when he heard loud moaning sounds coming from afar, seeing various people coming his direction from the dark fields across the road. Had it not been for the light of the moon, he would never have noticed them, but now that he has, he couldn't help but say, "What the fuck?!"

He had no clue as to where these people came from, but he knew they were just like the sheriff that attacked him a moment ago, for their fleshes looked like they were rotting away too, and they all had the same eyes too. Having no idea what was going on, Zach shook his head and backed up till his back was against the store. "What's going on here?!" he shouted as these people continued their advance towards him and the gas station.

Before long, Zach was almost completely surrounded as these rotting people kept coming and coming. Zach wanted to panic, but did his best not to, even as his anxiety was just about through the roof if it wasn't already. "What do I do? What do I do?" he asked himself as he looked around, hoping to find something that could help him, but all he spotted was his car. "If I can just get to my car." he then looked down at the sheriff's dead body and noticed he had his gun on him in his holster belt and quickly took it out. "I'm just gonna...borrow this, sheriff."

With the rotting people almost upon him, Zach took a quick look at the sheriff's gun, a M1911 pistol, and found that it was fully loaded. It didn't take him long until he aimed the gun right at the incoming people and took a couple steps towards them. "I'm warning you...! I'll shoot! I know how!" he warned, but they kept coming, and once a couple of them were close enough, they tried thrusting themselves right at Zach, but Zach quickly pulled that trigger and shot them back, but they were still up and continued to come for him.

Surprised, he shot a couple more times, forcing them back again, but this time he took a chance and ran for his car while they were stunned. He shot a few more times at any of the rotting people that got too close to him until he made it to his car, quickly opening the driver door and shut it. He fastened that seat belt, turned on the engine, and stepped on the gas, moving his car forward like it was stolen, turning it as hard as he could to get away from the store, knocking a few rotting individuals out of his way and made it onto the road. He ignored the speed limit as he drove like crazy, all while the rotting people he left behind pursued him slowly down the road, passing a welcome sign to Raccoon City, home to the Umbrella Corporation it said.

* * *

**~Arklay County Road, Nearing Raccoon City~**

After managing to escape the gas station, Zach was almost to Raccoon City by about a couple miles, but as he drove like hell to get away, his anxiety was still over the roof as he breathed heavily like crazy to calm down. "Oh god... Oh god... That didn't just happen. That didn't just happen. That didn't just happen..." he tried to tell himself, but when he looked over at his passenger seat and saw the gun he took from the dead sheriff, he immediately thought otherwise as he looked back at the road. "Oh holy hell it happened. Why else would I have a fucking gun in my car?!"

But he quickly took deep breaths again to calm down before his anxiety flared up, then tried to make sense of the situation, but unfortunately, he said, "None of this makes sense. What was going on back there? Where did all those people come from? And what happened to them?" he asked himself all these questions, but no answer was coming to mind, not that he knew one anyway. However, in the distance, he could see the lights of Raccoon City not too far ahead now. Upon noticing, a plan started to formulate in his mind. A simple one, but best he could think of.

"Okay, Zachary... Don't panic. Just get into the city and tell the authorities what happened. They'll know what to do." he told himself and nodded, also revealing his full first name. "Yeah... Then go find your folks and tell them what happened. Best plan you can think of. Okay..."

Once he had a plan figured out, he drove pass the city limits sign with the population number of over a hundred thousand. "Also, really got to stop talking to yourself. ...But then again, who better would listen to you than you? Heheh..."

* * *

**~Raccoon City Streets~**

Finally arriving at his destination, Zachary drove down the streets of Raccoon, only to see that it was deserted and torn apart from what looked like an outbreak on an insane level as trash and bodies were found all over the place. Some of these bodies were either skewered, bloody, and even bitten. Other had missing limbs or torn completely in half, all giving Zachary the urge to want to hurl yet again, but he held it back like the other times back at the gas station.

"Oh my god." he said as he turned the car in a different direction, now seeing small fires along the sidewalk, along with more dead bodies and shook his head at the sight. "Jesus... What the hell happened here? This is even worse than back at the gas station."

It didn't take long until Zachary spotted someone walking along the sidewalk with their back turned to him, and wanting to know more, Zach drove the car closer to the stranger and rolled down his window. "Hey, buddy? What's going on here? What happening to the city?" he asked, but the strange turned to him and appeared to be another male individual with rotting flesh, dirty teeth, and white eyes and let out a horrible shriek at the sight of Zach, shocking him to his core. "Holy shit!"

He quickly turned the car away just before the rotting male could grab hold and drove like a madman down the streets, his anxieties flaring up yet again, but more so as he looked around and saw more and more of the some rotting people of both genders coming from all directions on the streets. "Oh god, oh god, oh holy god!" he exclaimed as he noticed their attention on him and kept driving at a fast pace to get away, but it wasn't long until he spotted a road block ahead by other cards and military sand bags in front of them, along with even more rotting people. "Shit!"

Once he spotted what was ahead, he slammed on his breaks and brought his car to a sudden stop, only to have it surrounded by rotting individuals that soon came upon and shook his car as they tried to get at him. "Ah!" he moved away from his window and into the back seat with a hand over his chest as his heart was beating like crazy. "What is happening?! Has the whole city gone crazy or is it just me?!" he asked himself, but let out a shout in fright as the rotting people outside broke through the front windows and attempted to grab him, but couldn't reach.

Yet, despite them unable to reach him, Zach knew he wasn't going to be safe for long in his car. Realizing that, he quickly reached for the gun he took from the dead sheriff, narrowly avoiding being grabbed and quickly kicked open the door on his left, knocking away some of the rotting people and ran out as fast as he could, leaving his car behind, but the rotting individuals on its left side ignored it and decided to purse Zach instead, for they apparently wanted him more.

Not looking back, Zach ran as fast as he could down the now narrow streets, seeing more rotting people ahead, trying to grab him as he passed, but he was quick to evade them. "Shit, oh shit, oh shit!" he exclaimed in fright as he kept running, seeing some rotting individuals eating away at some of the dead bodies around by the looks of it, but stopped when they saw him and let out their horrifying shrieks.

Before long, Zachary came upon another desolate street, but covered his eyes for a second when he saw a much bigger fire burning away at a wrecked police car next to a large tanker truck that had exploded not too long ago by the looks of it. When he noticed them, he shook his head and grit his teeth in fright from everything he's witnessed so far. "What the hell is going on around here?" he asked, but then noticed the a sign indicating that the R.P.D. was up ahead pass the exploded tanker. "Raccoon Police Department. It's not far. I got to get there."

Knowing where he had to go, he wasted no time charging on ahead to get to the police station, but stopped when noticed another rotting individual come around the corner of the exploded police car. This one looked like a big man that wore trucker clothes, all burnt up and barely hanging on to himself as he walked and moaned towards Zachary. The sight of this man shook Zach's head in disbelief as he took a few steps back. "Jesus, buddy... You've seen better days." he stated, also seeing a bite mark on his neck, despite all his burnt up rotting flesh, but as he kept coming closer, Zach, held his gun up and threatened to shoot. "Stay back! Don't make me shoot you!"

But the trucker driver kept coming as his moans got louder, and not wanting to let him get any further, Zachary attempted to shoot, but when he pulled the trigger, nothing happened. He only heard a click sound, surprising him. "What? You gotta be kidding me!" he exclaimed as he knew his gun was out of ammo, but quickly thinking, he turned to the car near him that wasn't badly damage as much as the rest noticed its passenger door was open and opened it wide just as the rotten truck driver got close enough, slamming it into him and caused him to stammer back to he fell on his back, then ran passed him while he could. "Sorry, buddy!"

* * *

**~Raccoon City Police Department, Outside the Front Entrance~**

Narrowly avoiding the rotting people along the streets of Raccoon, Zachary finally made it to front of police station. He scrambled as fast as he could pass the cards that blocked a direct path to the gate, but it wasn't long until he made it. "Thank god. I made it!" he stated as he tried pushing the gate open once he approached it, but found that it wouldn't budge, surprising him. "What? Locked? Seriously?"

Though his anxieties were showing somewhat, he quickly looked around to try to find another way in, but didn't find any other way pass the main gate. "Dammit... Nothing." he told himself as he focused his attention back on the main gate, noticing it was bar locked, and believing it was the only way in, he tried slipping his arm through the gate bars and unlocking it, but was barely able to reach the bar lock's handle. "Gah... Almost...there... Just a...little more..."

But just as he was so close to opening the gate, suddenly, he looked up in surprise as the police department's clock tower internal bell ringed loudly, causing him to bring his arm back and took a couple steps away from the gate. "Was that...the clock tower?" he asked the obvious, but then shifted his head towards the upper level windows to the police station as he faintly heard gun shots being fired inside, then grabbed the gate bars in shock. "Gun shots! Someone's inside!" he shouted as he raddled the bars with his hands. "Hey...! Hey you inside...! Can you hear me...?! Hey...! I'm right outside!"

But instead of his calls for help being answered by whoever was inside the police station, his eyes went wide as he heard more moaning sounds around him. He slowly turned around and saw a horde of rotting people slowly coming towards him, and other coming out from below the wrecked cars all around and stood up, all on the path towards the station, but more so Zach himself, causing him to panic again.

"Oh god... Oh god...!" he exclaimed as noticed them coming from everywhere as he pinned his back against the locked gate. "Shit! The clock bell must've drawn them in!" he again stated the obvious, but knew all too well how true that had to been.

They came closer and closer, getting passed the wrecked cars to get to Zach. He knew he had a gun in his hand, but what was out of ammo, so it was useless to shoot back with. He also knew that getting inside the police station wouldn't save him since the gate was locked and saw no other way in, so that left him with the only option to run, but to where? It seemed like everywhere had these strange rotting people, but by the way they were acting, Zach was starting to doubt they were people at all. He didn't know what to think. All he wanted was to come back home to start over, but instead he stumbled upon something that didn't look like home anymore. Now it was something else. Something horrible.

"God I wish I was back in New York."

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED...  
**

* * *

**And so ends the beginning of a horrifying adventure for Zachary. He's come home, but clearly at the wrong time. Nothing but undead everywhere he looks. Too bad he's yet to realize that. What's going to happen to him now? How's he going to get out of his situation as the undead horde slowly nears him? Found out next time! The answers are to come, and more interesting things as well!**

**I want to say that I'm so happy to release the first chapter of my first Rated M story. This is my first time using swear words and other M Rated stuff, so I hope I did okay. Feel free to leave your reviews about how I did, or about the story. Whatever you like. Or just fave and/or follow. Doesn't matter to me which you do as long as you liked the opening chapter. Also, if you happen to spot any mistakes, feel free to let me know so I can fix them, but please don't get making a harsh criticism out of it, okay? Other than that, I can't wait to hear from you!**

**One more thing... If you haven't noticed, I used some moments from the new Resident Evil 2 remake game! Like Daniel Cortini after being killed when Leon and Claire arrived at the Mizoil Gas Station, and the truck driver from the start of the game made a cameo too! Plus the clock tower ringing, just like in the games! As to who was inside the police station, I'll let you decide. Leon or Claire. Doesn't really matter, since this story is about Zachary and his struggle to survive the most tragic moment in Resident Evil history. Keep looking for more stuff used in the game, and until then, see ya around!**


	2. Ch2: Around Every Corner

_**DISCLAIMER: I do not legally own the rights to New York. All rights belong to CAPCOM, but I do own my OCs.**_

_**"The most important factor in survival is neither intelligence nor strength but adaptability." - Charles Darwin**_

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**Resident Evil: Escape from Raccoon**

**Chapter 2: Around Every Corner  
**

* * *

**~Raccoon City Streets~**

Fires burned through the streets of Raccoon, despite the rainfall, and at first, everything seemed quiet and calm. However, that changed when Zachary was spotted running for dear life around the corner and continued to do so down the infested streets of rotting people. Somehow, he managed to get away from the ones coming at him back at the police station, but as he gazed back, he saw some of them still coming after him, but weren't nearly as fast as him, much to his relieve, but he knew he had to keep running.

"Shit, shit, shit!" he exclaimed, but gasped and came to a sudden stop when he saw more blocking the road ahead, either already up on their feet or getting up off the ground and moaned loudly as they slowly approached him. "You gotta be kidding me! There's no end to them!"

Unable to go back the way he came, nor go forward, Zach looked around desperately for another way out. He had no bullets in the gun he took from the sheriff not too long ago, and with no other weapon on him, he was defenseless if they all came at him too close. Fortunately, he found a way. "Over there!" he shouted as he quickly ran for a gate to the back alleyways of the city, narrowly evading the rotting people that tried to grab him along the way.

* * *

**~Raccoon City Back Alleyways~**

He soon made it to the gate and quickly pushed it open, then shut it afterwards, but knowing it was unlocked, and seeing how they were still coming, he had to keep them from pursuing. Thankfully, as he looked to his right, he noticed the dumpster was quite close to the gate and quickly moved it so it'd block the way, though it was heavy, but hopefully heavy enough to keep them out as he then shoved it against the gate, blocking the way just in time as the rotting people just came to the gate, but were unable to get to him anymore. All they could do was reach their arms through the bars and shriek loudly while Zach backed up and turned away, panting heavily, but was very relieved.

"Phew... I made it." he told himself as he looked down the alleyway, unsure of what was ahead, but knowing what was behind him, he didn't think twice before making his way down, but did so slowly and cautiously. "Okay... The police station was a bust, but there has to be someone alive that can tell me what the hell's going on around here. Someone that's not like everyone else. Good god..."

After everything he's seen and experienced so far, mostly from the rotting people, he began to question if they were people at all. Normal people wouldn't act like that, and they most certainly wouldn't be rotting all over their body. He wasn't sure how he knew, but they clearly weren't people, but whether they were or not he wasn't able to truly determine. All he knew was he had to keep away from them and try to find at least one person that wasn't like them. As he walked down the alleyway, the thought of his parents and friends came to mind, making him grow concern, for he wasn't sure if they were caught up in this mess like he was.

"Mom... Dad... Hope you guys are okay." he hoped as he picked up the pace down the alleyway. "Hopefully you're not here in the city, because I really wish I wasn't." he admitted as he turned a corner, seeing the alleyway stretching on further between city buildings, but as he continued down, he spotted a Raccoon police cop sitting down on the ground with their back against the wall, and not moving at all, but something about the cop's appearance seemed familiar to Zach as he slowly approached the body. "Jesus... Wait...! Is that...?"

Upon reaching the body, he took a good look at the face first, and to his shock, his assumptions appeared to be correct as to why this police officer looked familiar. "Oh my god. Miles..." he checked the rest of the body, seeing the name tag, badge, and bite marks and torn off flesh all over, especially where the bites were. "What the fuck? They got you too, didn't they...? Shit." he shook his head and let out a sad sigh before patting the dead officer's shoulder. "I'm so sorry. Rest in peace, pal."

After giving his respects to what appeared to be his deceased friend, Zach was about to leave him, but noticed a Glock 19 gun was in the officer's hand, along with a belt holster around his waist with a couple mags. Knowing those were there, and how his first gun had nothing to work with at all, he went back to his dead friend and proceeded to get the belt off him, though felt slightly guilty for doing so to a dead man. "Sorry about this, Miles, but I'm gonna need this." he apologized as he took holster belt, then wrapped it around his waist, tightening it so it wouldn't fall off, then picked up the Glock 19 and checked it, finding that it still had a full mag. "Well lucky me."

But before he left, a thought came to mind as he checked the deceased officer's body with an old pat down to his legs before feeling something on his right leg, below the knee. "Well what do we have here?" he asked as he rolled the right pant leg up and saw a knife in a black sheath made for the leg with dark brown straps. "I knew it. You son of a bitch. You still have it." he chuckled as he unsheathed the knife and inspected it for a moment before sliding a finger across the blade, feeling its sharpness, cutting himself a bit in the process, but not too bad. "Gah... Sharp as ever. Though this cut's nothing compared to how you cut me with it years back."

He chuckled and shook his head at the memory before proceeding to get the left strap for it off, but as he almost had it off, suddenly, Miles' body moved and jumped right at him by surprise. Zach let out a shout in shock as he forced down to the ground on his back while what was suppose to be Miles tried to take a chomp at his neck, but Zach did his best to hold him back. "Agh! Miles?! What the hell, man?!" he struggled to push his friend off, but Miles was a bit stronger, keeping himself right on top of him. "Gah...! Why are you doing this?! Miles!" he shouted, but his friend kept shrieking and try to chomp at his neck.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to get him off, but as he looked to his right, he spotted the knife that fell out of his hand when Miles jumped him. Quickly thinking, he reached while holding his friend back with his left arm the best he could and grabbed the knife, and without hesitation, he stabbed it right in the officer's skull, causing him to seize all actions. For a moment, Zachary was lied there with his friend above him, panting like crazy until he pushed him off and quickly got back up on his feet, taking a couple steps back from the dead body with a hand over his heart. "What the hell?!" he shouted, baffled and shocked by what just happened with his friend, who he assumed was dead, but apparently wasn't until now. "What just happened? Miles... You were dead. I didn't feel a pulse or anything. So how come...?"

He shook his head in disbelief as he bent down and took the knife out of his dead friend's head, then finished with taking the leg strap off him before wrapping it over his pants on his right thigh for better reach. Then slide the gun back to make sure it was ready to fire, then looked back at his dead friend, still in shock, but was now more confused by what happened. "What happened, Miles? You should be dead, but you... None of this makes sense. Unless..." he thought about everything he witnessed so far from all the rotting people he had seen up until now. Rotting bodies, biting, moaning, and coming after him all the time instead of each other. Being an actor, he had seen this sort of thing before now that he realized, and his eyes went wide in shock as the answer was, "Zombies."

* * *

**~The Streets of Raccoon City~**

As the answer to everything went through his mind, all around him, in every street of Raccoon, those rotting people, now classified by Zach to be zombies, roamed everywhere. Not just the streets, but inside buildings, back alleys, anywhere that a person would normally wander off into on a daily basis, and each zombie had clothes that classify them as citizens, police officers, and even military soldiers. But what was the most horrifying, and unknown to Zach, was a giant horde of them was seen walking down the main street of Raccoon, right at the city's very center, shrieking loudly all together as they searched the dead city to find any sign of life, and to a zombie, that meant food to feast upon.

* * *

**~Raccoon City Back Alleyways~**

With the startling realization of what he was dealing with, Zachary shook his head over and over, hoping that what he was saying wasn't true, but in the back of his mind, and after everything so far, he knew that it was all too true. "This can't be happening... This can't be happening...!" he tried to tell himself, but knew it wasn't going to work as he looked back ahead down the alleyway, the gun he took from Miles ready in his hands for anything he came across. "No. I don't believe it. It can't be true. I have to get answers. There must be someone that's...alive." he stated as he wasted no more time and proceeded down the alleyway, leaving his dead friend's body behind him as he continued on with his gun and knife by his side.

As he ventured further, everything seemed quiet. A bit too quiet now, which made him a little uneasy, but he continued on until he came to a fork in the alleyway. One led on further in, the other to a gate that lead to another street. It didn't take him long to check the gate, but found it was locked, unable to push or pull the door open. "Dammit. I need a key. Oh well..." he turned around and decided to try his luck going further down, and for a moment, it seemed okay, until shrieking sounds were head ahead and he quickly got his gun ready as three zombies came around the corner ahead and towards him at a slow pace. "Stay back!"

But his warning meant nothing to them as the zombies continued coming towards him, but before they could get any further, Zachary shot some rounds with the Glock 19, hitting them a couple times on their bodies before getting their heads. Once their heads were shot, they immediately fell to the ground, no longer moving, and not wanting to check them, Zach continued on. "So it's true. Shoot them in the head and they go down. Just like in the movies." he stated, slightly chuckling at the thought of his time in the acting world and watching movies payed off.

Before he went around the corner, he put his back against the wall and peaked over, seeing nothing. No sign of life or zombies to be found. Just the moonlit alleyway and felt a bit relieved as he ventured onward. "Okay... So far so good. You got this, Zach." he told himself, but stopped when he heard the sound of loud footsteps with clinging sounds to it nearby, but was sort of muzzled, so it couldn't be ahead of him, but it was close. "Huh... What's that?" he asked as he shifted his head towards one of the building walls, curious, but also a bit shocked. "A person?"

He slowly came to and placed his ear on the wall, hoping to hear something, and he did. The same loud footsteps with clinging sounds to them was coming from inside, making his eyes go wide, but not because he thought it was someone that might be alive, but for why it sounded like it was coming towards him. "What the...?" he asked, but was shocked when the wall next to him shattered and bricks flew everywhere with dust. "Whoa!" he exclaimed as he stepped back from the shock, but his eyes went wide when he saw something, or someone, in the dust of the torn down wall.

This someone appeared about one-half taller than Zachary and wearing a black trench coat, boots, and gloves with black belts around the arms below the elbows, a black fedora hat, and his face was entirely grey with wrinkly features, but they didn't appear to make him out as old rather than something else to Zach. When the dust cleared around this stranger, he slowly shift his head towards Zach, sending a shock down his spine.

"What the hell...?!" he exclaimed as the tall stranger attempted to grab him, but Zach ducked and moved just in time, getting pass him as he did so. "Whoa!" he quickly turned back and faced him with his gun ready. "What's your deal, asshole?!"

But the stranger made no reply, but instead turned to face Zach again as he backed up, while the stranger himself slowly came towards him. However, Zach quickly reacted by firing a few shots at the stranger's body, but they didn't appear to have fazed him at all, much to Zach's shock as he fired one more round at the stranger's head, causing him to stop in his tracks. Though it appeared Zach had gotten him, the stranger turned his head back at him, and though the shot wound was there on the side of his face, he was still standing, much to Zach's horror. "Oh shit."

With not even a head shot stopping this stranger, Zach immediately turned and ran down the alleyway to get away, while the stranger charged after him, appearing to much faster than Zach. "Holy shit!" he exclaimed as he quickly turned the corner just before the stranger caught up and slammed into the wall, but quickly recovered and turned to see Zach still running and continued on after him. "What is his deal?!" Zach asked as he saw him coming still, then looked back ahead and saw a ladder going up to a building's fire escape.

"I gotta get away!" he stated as he hurried his pace, getting to and grabbed the ladder before climbing it as fast as he could, but just as he was halfway, he felt his leg being grabbed and tugged by the stranger, who had caught up to him, much to Zach's shock. "Oh fuck!" he screamed as he was pulled down, unable to hold on to the ladder do to its slipper bars from the rain and was tossed down to the ground on his side, the stranger now blocking his way to the ladder.

Zach groaned in pain as he quickly tried to get back up, only to have his face grabbed by the stranger's large hand. "Ah!" he shouted as he was picked up effortlessly by the stranger and felt his hand squeezing his skull, causing him to scream in pain, while the stranger tilt his head with a seemingly blank expression. "L-Let me...go, you motherfucker!" he shouted as he tried shooting his gun at the stranger's head, but found it had no bullets, and he was no position to try to reload as his head was about to crushed. As he screamed, he peeked his right eye down and saw the knife he took from Miles. He then quickly dropped his gun to free his hand, then took out the knife and stabbed the stranger right in the head, causing him to give out a loud shout in pain as he dropped Zach to the ground.

Zach grunted in pain at first, from both the head crushing and drop, but he pushed himself back up as the stranger stammered back from the pain in his head by the knife. Taking this chance, he picked up his gun and ran back the way he came while he could. "Thank you, Miles!" he thanked his dead friend, all while the stranger pulled the knife out of his head and gazed towards the running Zachary, who went around the corner, not too happy as blood dripped down over his left eye.

Narrowly avoiding a head crushing, Zach ran as fast as he could, but knew he was just heading back to a dead end. "Shit! Gotta think! Gotta think!" he soon came up to the fork in the road from earlier and ran for the gate, trying to open it, even though it was locked, but no success. "Dammit! Come on! Open up!" but try as he might, the gate wasn't opening anytime soon, much to his dismay. "Fuck!" he then heard the loud foot stomps of the stranger coming his way and quickly looked around the small area in panic, but seeing no way of escape, he had but one option, "I have to hide!"

Thankfully, a small dumpster was near him and he quickly ran for and opened it up, seeing plenty of garbage bags inside, and the foul smell they carried, but he didn't mind that right now as he made haste and went inside, then quietly closed the hatch before the stranger showed up. He looked around for a moment, but found no sign of Zach anywhere, much to his confusion. Inside the dumpster though, Zach tried to silence his breathing while taking a spare mag for his gun on the belt he took from Miles and quietly tried to reload, and he almost succeeded, until a snap sound was heard upon locking the clip inside, much to his shock. His shock was soon realize as the stranger shifted his attention down the small alley to the locked gate and tread down it slowly.

In Zach's head, he was in panic as he heard the stranger's footsteps grew louder and louder as he came closer to his hiding spot, but he kept the gun ready, just in case. Outside, the stranger stopped near the dumpster and slowly turned his attention towards it, as if a thought came to his head where Zach might be. A potential hiding place, perhaps? Either way, he slowly turned his body towards and placed a hand over the hatch. Then, a couple seconds after, he pulled it wide open and peered inside, only to find no Zach, but garbage bags instead. He looked in ever corner inside the dumpster for a moment before closing the hatch, unaware that Zach was indeed inside, but managed to slip under the garbage bags, much to his disgust.

"Ugh... Really wish I was back in New York right about now." he said in disgust as he heard the sound of a gate being forced open, much to his surprise as he pushed the garbage bags off him, then listened closely, hearing the loud footsteps of the stranger fade away slowly until there was complete silence. Once it was all quiet outside, Zach opened the hatch slowly and peeked out, seeing nothing around. "Huh... Guess he gave up. Thank god."

Once he knew it was all clear, he opened the hatch completely and jumped out of the dumpster, checking his gun one more time to make sure it was loaded and ready again, then spotted the gate, that was once closed and locked, now open. Well, more liked forced open by the looks of it. "Yikes... But that guy at least saved me some trouble." he admitted as he continued out, heading out the gate and back into the streets.

* * *

**~Raccoon City Streets~**

Now back on the streets, Zach was on alert as he looked and pointed his gun wherever he thought a zombie might come out, or where that mysterious stranger might be, but there appeared to be nothing else around but himself, much to his relieve. Yet, he had to stay sharp and ready. He knew that much after narrowly avoiding death earlier. "Okay... Now where?" he asked himself as he tried to think of where he had to go next while venturing down the street, but the only thing coming to mind was that stranger her encountered earlier. Something about him was far from right to him.

"That guy... Who was he? What was he?" he shook his head in disbelief. "Whoever he was, he wasn't right. Well, neither is talking to yourself, but that's beside the point. I shot him in the head, the body, then stabbed him in the head, and he still kept moving. How the hell...?"

Question raced through his mind, but no answers came as usual, but despite that, he needed to stay focus and keep on his guard, all while passing a sign that indicated the Raccoon City Orphanage was not too far ahead of him. "Well whoever he was, he was definitely no zombie, and he definitely was not normal." he figured that much about the stranger as he came up to a three way intersection, debating on which way to go. "All right... Which way?"

But just as he was about to make a decision, suddenly, his eyes went wide when he heard a scream, like a little girl's scream. "Huh?! Who was...?" he turned his head down one of the streets and heard another voice, though a bit faint, it was loud enough for him to hear.

"You little bitch! Get back here!" shouted what sounded like an older male.

"Help! Somebody please!" shouted the little girl, though hers sounded faint too, it was still loud enough to give Zach a shock as he determined it was coming from a building behind brick walls with little kid drawings on it nearby.

"What was that?! People?! Alive?!" he asked himself as he hurried down that particular street, which led to the Raccoon City Orphanage.

* * *

**~Raccoon City Orphanage~**

It didn't take long until Zach reached the gate entrance to the Orphanage and pushed his way in, fortunate that it wasn't locked, finding himself in the front entrance/courtyard to the building. He kept his gun up and ready, but he didn't fire a shot since there was no sign of zombies or that stranger from earlier anywhere. However, he did hear more yelling and screaming inside the building that caught his attention again.

"I'm coming in, Sherry!" shouted the man as the sound of a door being barged through was heard, along the screams of the little girl too.

"Go away!" she screamed, all while Zachary ran for the front entrance in haste.

"What is going on in there?" he asked as he came up to the front door. "Hold on! I'm coming!" but as he got to the door, he tried pulling it open, but found that it was locked by a chain and lock around the handles, while the doors themselves were already unlocked. "You gotta be shitting me. I don't have time for this!" he exclaimed as he stepped back and aimed his gun at the lock.

"Get over here, you little bitch!" shouted the man inside as lightning crashed in the distance, causing a loud boom as Zachary shoot a few rounds at the lock, then attempted to break it off, and fortunately he did as the lock and chains fell down.

Once the lock was gone, he again pulled the doors open and ran on inside, his gun up as he tried to determine where the screaming and shouting came from, but then he heard the little girl scream again and shifted his attention towards a door that appeared to have been torn down with an axe. "No... Stop!" shouted the little girl as Zach ran and maneuvered his way through the broken down door and proceeded down the hallway and its corners.

"Almost there... Hold on..." he said as he ran through an open door and came into a strange room with a table of a dead girl's body on it, but what was the most shocking thing of all in the room was right before Zach's widen eyes. "Oh my god..."

Before his eyes, a man that that didn't look like a zombie, nor the stranger that attacked him before, but something completely different on a inhuman level. Though it had characteristics of a human with torn up blue jeans and a torn up white lab coat and messy hair and human facial features, its right arm was far bigger than the average in muscle and mass with a tumour-like eyeball in the shoulder and an outline of vestigial hands on its sides, but they weren't dominant compared to everything else on its body. It turned its gaze right at Zach, ignoring a lying body that was at its feet, an overweight man by the looks of it and gave a threatening growl as Zach readied his gun, though unsure if a Glock 19 would do anything to something like this.

"What the fuck are you?" he asked, but his attention quickly shifted when he heard whimpers nearby and spotted a little girl in a school uniform hiding right behind the table with the dead body on it, trying not to scream as she gave Zach a frightened expression. He was unsure of who the man was, but he knew instantly that the girl screaming earlier must've been her, and whatever this monster was in front of him, it frightened her, and knowing that, he knew what he had to do. He grew serious now as he hold a hand out at the girl. "Stay there. I got this."

The little girl just nodded in response, while Zach put his attention back on the monster and readied his gun. "Hey, you ugly motherfucker...! You want a piece of me?!" he asked as he shot a couple rounds at the monster, apparently angering it in the process, then held his arms out as he backed up. "Come and get me!" with a terrible roar, the monster charged right for Zachary, knocking the table away as it did so, exposing the girl, but payed no attention while also surprising Zach as he quickly turned and run. "Oh shit!"

He managed to evade a strike from the monster's giant right arm, then turned back and fired a few more shots at it, while the little girl quickly got up and ran for cover before spotting an open hatch in the floor, while Zach fired more rounds at the monster before he turned and ran again. He clearly got his attention now as the monster broke through the door and pursued Zachary down the hallway of the Orphanage, roaring as it did so, while Zach did his best to maneuver around the corners before making it back out into the front entrance room and barged right out the main entrance and into the courtyard, all with the monster trailing not too far behind, letting out another roar that got the attention of some of the zombies in the area as they turned and made their way towards the street the Orphanage was on.

* * *

**~Raccoon City Streets~**

Now out of the Orphanage, Zachary ran down the streets of Raccoon once again, all while looking back and seeing the monster plowing through the wrecked cars to get to him. "Jesus Christ!" he shouted as he turned his head back ahead. "Starting to regret this idea!" but he quickly came to a stop when he saw a horde of zombies coming his way, thanks to the sound of the monster's roar earlier apparently. "You gotta be kidding me!"

Again, the monster roared behind him, indicating he was still giving chase, and not wanting to know what would be worse, Zach chose to keep running forward through the zombies, narrowly avoiding them or shooting them in the head as he ran. Meanwhile, the monster simply smacked away any of the zombies that was in its way, clearly too strong for them to handle, and Zach for that matter. Even so, Zach kept running as fast as he could until he four way intersection, but didn't think where to go and turned right, and still the monster gave chase.

But as Zach ran for dear life, he gasped and came to a sudden stop when he found that the way he came was a dead end. The path ahead was blocked by abandoned military vehicles and sandbags, along with wrecked cars. "God dammit! Shit!" he exclaimed as turned and saw the monster standing merely yards from him, growling with anger, but Zach held his gun up and tried to be brave, even as his anxieties flared to new heights. "Well...?! Come on! Bring it on, you ugly piece of shit!"

In response, the monster roared and charged at Zach, swinging its massive right arm, but Zach jumped to the side in time and narrowly avoided the strike, then shot a few more rounds at the monster, but that only got its attention as it attempted to strike him again. Fortunately, Zach jumped back and avoided another strike from the monster's arm, but before he could fire his gun again, the monster retaliated by swinging the arm back and knocked the gun out of his hand by surprise. "Fuck!" he exclaimed before he ducked and moved before getting struck, hoping to the grab his gun, but the monster was no right on top of it, so getting it back wasn't gonna be easy. "Dammit!"

Thinking as fast as he could, Zachary looked around before the monster could turn to face him again and his eyes went wide when he spotted a military grade grenade launcher by a dead soldier near the sandbags. "That could work!" he told himself as he quickly ran for it just as the monster faced him, seeing him head for the weapon, but let out another roar just as Zach got down on a knee and picked it up, then aimed it right for the monster and prayed there was a grenade left in it as the monster charged right for him with its arm up and ready.

"Eat this!" he shouted as he fired and was fortunate as a grenade was launched right at the monster, impacting its arms, right next to the eyeball, causing the monster to seize its charge and screamed in pain as it stammered back from the explosion. However, it managed to regain balance and was about to come at Zach again, but Zach fired another grenade, fortunate again there was another and this time hit the monster right in the chest, sending it flying back into a wrecked car's windshield.

Afterwards, Zach panted as he got up and lowed the grenade launcher as the monster was steaming from the force of the explosion dealt upon it. He waited for a moment before chuckling and grinned. "Yeah... Take that, motherfucker!"

He had no clue what he just dealt with, but he assumed he got it as he went over and picked up his gun, then checked the grenade launcher and found it had just those two shots, for it was now empty. "Wow... Thank god I didn't need a third." he said in relieve before placing the launcher back down near the dead soldier, then looked back down the street he came from, remembering the little girl back at the Orphanage, concerned. "Hope that kid's okay."

Just then, he heard moans of zombies coming his way from down the same street he came from and shook his head. "Jeez... You guys don't let up, do you?" he asked as he looked around and saw a gate to an alleyway blocked off by a dumpster. It didn't take him long to move it out of the way, then opened the gate and ran down a straight and narrow alley to reach another street.

* * *

Once arriving at another city street, he looked around a bit to see one way was blocked off by too many wrecked cars to get around. At least not fast enough, and he felt he needed to keep moving at a fast pace, so he decided to go the other way, and did so slowly and on the alert for anything. "All right... Now to find a way back to that Orphanage. Hopefully that little girl's still there." he said once he had a plan formulated again. "Maybe she knows how this all happened."

Though it was just a little girl, he hoped she'd know something. At this point, he couldn't think of anyone else that could tell him. He hasn't found anyone other than her still alive and not apparently a zombie. However, as he continued down the street, he came to a stop when he noticed the road ahead had no more road. "What the...?" he looked down and saw metal platforms and entrance ways into the city's sewers, but other than that, no road ahead, despite there being buildings ahead of him. "Well that's just great. Better find another way."

But when he turned around, he was surprised when the monster he fought earlier stood right before him and swung its massive arm, knocked Zachary back and over the edge. Zach screamed as he fell until he hit his back on the metal below, sending a jolt of pain through his body and shouted in response. He tried to get back up, but the pain was too much, and before long, he passed out, while the monster gazed down at him and growled before leaving Zach alone, now ignoring him as it went back down the way to the Orphanage, speaking out a name as it did so. "SHERRY..."

Now alone and hurt, Zach just lied there, unconscious, blissfully unaware that over the metal platform he landed on, there apparently was more zombies, seemed to had fallen down some time back, but when the sound of Zach's screams and fall was heard, they slowly got up and made their terrible moans. As they did so, there was a pathway that led up to Zach's level, and they slowly made their way towards it, all while Zachary was down for the count.

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED...  
**

* * *

**Wow... Zach just can't catch a break, can he? Zombies, strange guys in black trench coats, and now a mutant monster? I guess I could've given him a little bit of a break, but that's no fun. Beside, he's got a break now! Unfortunately, he picked the wrong place to take a nap. Wake up, Zach! Wake up before you become zombie chow! Is he gonna get up in time? Stick around to find out more in the next chapter!**

**I must say that I'm so glad I was able to get this second chapter out so soon. I know it's slightly longer than planned, but still...! After getting the first one, I immediately began working on this one for an entire day! Not exaggerating there. I had the entire chapter figured out and I so wanted to get it down before I lost it. So glad I did! Did you guys like it? Be sure to leave me your comments about it. Hopefully I picked things up a bit more from where we left off before. Also, how did you like the cameo of Sherry Birkin and Police Chief Brian Irons? Though Irons was technically dead (sort of) by then, but his voice was heard, so yay. Still, to come face to face with a Tyrant, then deal with G, aka mutated Doctor William Birkin, I must say that Zach really has got his work cut out for him here. Heheh...**

**Anyway, enough with my rambling. Until next time! Remember to fave and/or follow if you want to keep up with the story through your email notifications, and be sure to inform me, but in a good way, if you spot any mistakes in the grammar and/or writing. Thanks again, guys!**


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